Changes

|president =François HollandeEmmanuel Macron

|pm =Manuel VallsÉdouard Philippe

|pop =66.81 million62,814,233|pop-basis =20152016

:''For the impact on left-wing policies on France and the rest of Europe, see [[European migrant crisis]]'''''France''' is a major country in Western [[Europe]]. In ancient times, the area that is today France was included in the Roman province of Gaul. The French nation can be traced back to 481, when Clovis I ascended as the country's first king. France has played a significant role in world events since the era of Cardinal Richelieu in the mid-seventeenth century. The monarchy founded by Clovis lasted until the [[French Revolution]] of 1789-1799. Since 1870 (with the exception of a four-year period from 1940 to 1944 during which it was controlled by [[Nazi Germany]]), France has been a republic since 1870 with the motto "liberty, equality, fraternity." It is a leading member of the [[European Union]], an economic and political union founded in 1952 as the European Coal and Steel Community. France is the world's most popular tourist destination with 80 million visitors in 2011.<ref>[http://geography.about.com/od/economic-geography/a/20-Most-Popular-Countries-As-Tourist-Destinations.htm 20 Most Popular Countries as Tourist Destinations]".</ref>

France is a leading member of the [[European Union]], an economic and political union founded in 1952 as the European Coal and Steel Community. France's current constitutional structure, called the Fifth Republic, was introduced in 1958. It features a strong president elected to a five-year term of office.The French national currency, or franc, was phased out in 1999-2002 and replaced by the euro. France is the world's most popular tourist destination with 80 million visitors in 2011.<ref>[http://geography.about.com/od/economic-geography/a/20-Most-Popular-Countries-As-Tourist-Destinations.htm 20 Most Popular Countries as Tourist Destinations]".</ref>

The coming presidential elections in 2012 highlights the current political situation. It should be noted, that in contrary to the two party system such as in the US, French elections saw a multitude of political movements face each other . The historical right movement (UMP) lead by President Sarkozy will face several opponents. The Parti Socialiste, the main left political party, whose candidate is [[François Hollande, as well as the Front National]], a far right partysocialist, whose popularity is rising due to won the economical stagnation, Nicolas Sarkozy's low rate of approval in recent surveys, and the focus of the government on immigration and interior security topics, which have been taken up by the far right2012 presidential election.Several others movements[[Emmanuel Macron]], like the ecologistsa liberal [[globalist]], won the centrists, the communists, the monarchists present candidates2017 presidential election, but few are expected to get more than 10% of votesdefeating populist [[Marine Le Pen]].

Americans generally took France's refusal to join in the war very badly. Many politicians, especially Republicans, were incensed and even started campaigns to ridicule France and its military. There was even a campaign to change the name of French fries to Freedom fries, which is in effect to this day. Since no weapons of mass destruction were found after the Iraq war, some have speculated that France was right all along. But many Americans still take a very negative view of the French generally and old stereotypes of rude, unwashed, horse-eating and cowardly French remain a popular vision.